SFA Track Travels West to Compete in Michael Johnson Invitational
4/21/2017 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
SFA at Michael Johnson Invitational
Saturday, April 22
Clyde Hart Track & Field Stadium • Waco, Texas
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NACOGDOCHES, Texas - SFA Track and Field’s season is slowly coming to a close with two more track meets left until the Southland Conference Championship meet. The team heads to Waco this Saturday to compete at the Michael Johnson Invitational hosted by Baylor University. The meet will be held in the Clyde Hart Track & Field Stadium for the third time since the opening of the track in 2014.
The Lumberjacks will be competing against student-athletes from 16 different universities, including institutions from the SEC, Big 12, and ACC. The Michael Johnson Invitational is a one-day meet, beginning with the Javelin at 9:00 a.m. with the other field events continuing throughout the day. The first heats of the running events will get underway in an afternoon session starting at 1:00 pm with the 1500-meter run and cap at 3:45 pm with the 5,000-meter run. The main event races will take the track at 5:00 pm, starting with the 3,000-meter steeplechase. The meet will conclude with the 4x400-meter relay at 7:50 p.m.
SFA will travel with a party of 66 athletes, which includes a handful of top performers in the Southland Conference. Junior Antonio Ruiz leads the Southland Conference in men’s pole vault after winning last week’s Texas Invitational by clearing 18-feet. SFA holds three of the top eight competitors in the men’s 400-meter dash: senior William Gibson, junior Tedrick Hawkins, and senior Jonathon Joe. The women’s 4x400- meter relay team of freshman Imani Nave, senior Chelsi Gill, senior Aliyah Davis, and junior Tiffany Williams, whom are ranked second in the league, will also be testing their grit once again on the Clyde Hart Track.
The SFA men’s throwing crew will compete in their first competition since the Carl Kight Invitational featuring four hammer throwers that rank in the top eight in the league. Senior Derek Orlando leads them ranking third with a 185-0.0 throw.
Freshman Evan Barron, who ranks sixth in the SLC, and John Shirk will partake in the men’s 5,000-meter run. While 1,500-meter specialist senior Rana Ryan will try to improve her run-time against the stacked competition of the Michael Johnson Invitational.
Next Up: SFA will compete in their last meet before Conference on April 29th at the Bobcat Classic Invitational in San Marcos, Texas.
-SFA-
